A Modern Day Christmas Story: Continuum
by Matt Smith
Summary: A continuation of the original Modern Day Christmas Story. Hayden Lockhart and Brandon Fisher continue their fight for survival as the zombie epidemic spreads, and an old enemy returns to finish what he started.


**A Modern Day Christmas Story**

_Continuum_

_By Matthew Smith_

If you have a good memory, then I hope you can recall what happened in the last Christmas story I wrote. If, on the off chance you don't have a good memory (Like a certain someone I know (I 3 You)), then I might suggest you go back and read the first one. Same title, without the subtitle of Continuum.

In any case, I will do as I did last time, and give you an appropriate rundown as to the characters, and the situation. The story starts out with a lovely slideshow of winter scenery, across the many parts of not only the United States of America, but also other counties in their winter prime.

And then we're transported to a forest, where we find our Hero, Hayden Lockhart; a police officer from the city of Jeremiah, Nebraska. And so begins the continuum of the Modern Day Christmas Story.

**Outskirts of the City of Jeremiah, Nebraska – The Matrix Forest**

The wooden cabin loomed just ahead. The dark of the night, mixed with the light from the moon and the fact that it was in the middle of the forest, with no one or anything else around for miles, gave it an creepy feel. Hayden Lockhart stumbled through the knee deep snow that had fallen just hours before. She stopped and rested against a tree, pulling her jacket around her. She'd been out here for almost a full day. No sign of anything living; breathing or otherwise.

She scanned the area around her. She didn't see anything moving. That could be either good or back. It didn't matter. She couldn't stay out there in the cold. She'd soon freeze to death. She decided she'd take her chanced on inspecting the cabin. She drew the pistol that she'd pulled from the chopper wreckage. She only had a half a clip. It was enough. Or so she kept telling herself.

She gave the area a glance around once more, and then bolted forward, and in a dozen paces – very large paces – she was at the cabin's front door. She turned the knob and it opened without any question. She glanced behind her once more, and then ducked inside. She let out a breath and shivered from the change in temperature. It was much warmer inside the cabin.

That didn't sit well with her. She raised the pistol, and stepped forward, feeling her way about the darkness. Then she heard a creaking sound. She froze. Then there was a footstep. Followed by another. And another. It sounded to be about three feet away from Hayden.

She didn't move. She didn't even breath. Suddenly there was a flash of light and in front of her was a soldier. Just like the ones She and Brendan had encountered back in Jeremiah City. "Who the fuck are you?" The solder hissed. _He didn't shoot me. Yet. _"My name is Hayden Lockhart. JPD. Who the hell are you? And what's with the getup?"

The soldier just looked at her, confused. And then he got it. "Oh. This? Eh, damn corporation suits for their soldiers."

"What Corporation? What's your purpose here?"

He looked at her, with his right eyebrow cocked upward. "You sure do ask a lot of questions."

"Well, when you have the undead walking around trying to eat you alive, and then you just barely escape the city, you try and tell me YOU don't have questions."

He smirked. "You do have a point. Lockhart, you said?" She nodded. He did too. "Well, I work for the Zera Corporation."

"Never heard of them."

"Of course not. They're a secret division of the U.S. government. They specialize in…" He paused. She looked at him. "IN WHAT?"

"Bio-weaponry. Holy shit." He said, surprised at his own answer.

"And your purpose for being _here_?" She hissed.

"I track down specific target types."

"What kind of target types?"

He chuckled. "The ones that are slow, shuffle around, drool a lot, and try to eat you alive."

"You guys are the cleanup crew."

"You're a smart gal. But I don't have any cookies for you."

"What's your name?"

"Jack."

"Of course. What a classic name."

"Blame my parents."

She eyed him. He just looked at her. "What?"

"Why are you in the outskirts?"

"Because… directly underneath us is the operations center for controlling this epidemic."

"Underneath us?"

"Yeah. Underground labs. For Zera Corp."

"Don't fuck with me. Just tell me the god-damn truth."

"I am, little lady. Don't believe me? Look at the console over there." Hayden looked over at where he shown his light. She looked back at him, with a suspicious look and slowly moved to the console. She activated it, and the screen blinked. Twice. And suddenly it lit up, with camera views from different labs.

"What kind of bio-weaponry do you guys do besides this virus?"

"Um… I'm not privy to such intelligence. I didn't even know this was a virus until we were in the middle of this shit-hole."

"We?"

"My… squad."

"Where are the rest of them?"

"Dead. A bio-weapon got them."

"Bio-Weapon?"

"Another… form of undead. It's more of an experiment gone wrong. Don't worry. They might be dead by it, but it's dead by me."

"You sure?"

He smirked. "Hell yeah."

"Good. She turned and scanned the dark room. "You got an extra light?"

He smiled and took out a smaller pocket flashlight and tossed it to her. She switched it on and looked around. It was an empty room. Obviously a front for an underground lab. She suddenly believed him. But she had one question.

She looked over at him; it was her turn to shine the light in his face. "Don't you have orders to protect this place?"

"I yeah, I do."

"Then why am I still alive?"

He shrugged. "Hey, as long as you don't try to go down to the labs, who gives a shit?"

She nodded slowly. "Hey, so, I'm looking for a young man, about my age."

"Tall, dark and handsome?"

"That's the one."

"Name's Brandon?"

"Yes…"

He looked around, and then shook his head. "They got him down stairs."

"What do you mean?"

"The labs."

_Oh God. They're using him as an experiment. _She looked at Jack. "Listen… I'm really sorry."

"For what…?"

Suddenly she clocked him from the right, sending him spinning around and falling chin first to the floor. Hayden shook her hand and hissed in pain. It wasn't as easy as it looked – punching someone with your bare fist that is. She dropped down next to Jack's unconscious body, and searched him. She quickly found an ID badge. She took it, as well as the SMG and combat knife and ammo.

She clipped his radio to her belt. With the SMG on her back, and 9mm in her hand, she moved through the doorway he'd come through. It had to be where the door to the lift was. She shined the light around, and saw a gate. She moved over to it and tried to open it. It wouldn't budge.

She shined the light around the room again and noted a small control panel a few steps away. She moved over and slid the confiscated badge over it. It gave off a soft beep and suddenly the gate opened. Hayden turned, and peered inside the lift. It was empty at least, with a dim red light on in the back right corner. She sighed and stepped onto it. With a push of a button, the gate closed and it shook as it began its descent.

The lift stopped with a heavy shudder, and the gate opened up to a long dark corridor. With her pistol at the ready, Hayden stepped off the lift and the gate suddenly closed shut and the lift started back up to the top, leaving her all alone. She swallowed hard and started down the corridor. As she followed it down to a four way intersection, she heard a jingling sound. Keys. Off a belt. "Who the hell are you?" A deep male voice said. Hayden turned, holding the gun at a surrendering position. "Hayden Lockhart. JPD."

"What are you doing down here? This is a restricted zone."

"Why is that?"

"Don't fuck with me. Tell me what you are doing down here!"

"I'm here for my friend. You took him hostage for an experimental test dummy."

"Even if that were true… and it's not; what makes you think I'm going to just let you walk in and take him out?"

"Because. I've been through hell in the last 24 hours. I'm starving. I'm thirsty, and in need of a stress reliever. I will kill you if you get in my way. One bullet isn't a bad deal with all the extra ammo and weaponry I'd pick off your body anyhow."

"So be it."

"I was just going to say that."

The man pounded his fists together before taking out a switch blade. As he threw it around his hands, Hayden rolled her eyes as she shot him point blank in the temple. He fell backward, and Hayden moved over and began to scavenge for weapons and ammo. "Told you so…" she muttered. She picked up the switch blade and put it in her pocket. She turned away, moving on down the corridor.

She saw a map on the wall a few feet down the line and paused at it. Upon further examination, she noted that there were only two actual labs in the entire underground complex. She cocked an eyebrow and sighed. It narrowed down the places she'd have to search for Brandon then. She ripped the map off the wall, folded it up, and put it in her back pocket.

She quickly found the stairwell. She had no patients for more elevators. The labs were on the 8th level down. She was on the 2nd. You do the math. She raced down the stairs, skipped every other one and jumping the last four steps of each section of stairs. She soon found herself standing in front of the door leading into the 8th floor. She swallowed, SMG in hand. She went in. And found herself inside a pitch black room. She fumbled for the flashlight. But before she could turn it on, the lights in the room flashed on acutely. Hayden brought her arm up to shield her eyes from the brightness. As her eyes slowly adjusted, she heard a voice over the intercom.

And suddenly, she found herself back inside the chopper. The man. With the sunglasses. The sunglasses that concealed his blood red eyes. His dark voice. She turned and saw the man, wearing sunglasses and a trench coat (Classic, right?), standing in an observation room overlooking the lab she was in, flanked by two guards.

"I'm so glad you could join us, Ms. Lockhart."

"You son of a bitch! Where is he?"

He just smiled. "You listen to me. You were fortunate to escape the city alive. However, you are in my territory now. You play by my rules."

"Which are?"

Suddenly Brandon was pulled into view by the man in black, and he put a gun to his head. "Join me, and he lives."

Hayden glared, and Brandon began to scream at her. "NO! Don't you fucking join this asshole! I swear to God Hayden! If you do… I…"

Hayden closed her eyes and addressed the man in black. "Screw you."

He cocked his pistol, and suddenly there was gunfire. A shot sent the man in black flying into the wall behind him. The two guards on either side raised their rifles and, they too, were gunned down. Brandon dropped to his knees.

Hayden turned and saw Jack stepping up behind her, an SMG in hand. "What the hell are you doing?" She hissed. Jack nodded. "Saving your asses! And after what you pulled up there, you're lucky I'm even doing that. Now, let's move!"

"Brandon!" Hayden called, moving for the stairs that led to the observation room.

She stepped inside, and found Brandon loading a rifle he'd picked off one of the guards. "Get what you can off them." He said. Hayden stepped into the room, and saw the man in black propped up against the wall, unmoving. Jack came in, and began to help Brandon gather ammo off the dead men.

Hayden stepped close to the man in black. She knelt down in front of him, and suddenly he gasped. He stared at her for a moment, and then suddenly he pulled out a switch, and before Hayden could react, he pressed it. "Good luck getting out…" before she could fully blink, the man in black reached out, and grabbed her by her jacket, and threw her back, sending her out the window of the observation room. She fell to the ground of the lab below, unmoving. Jack looked up and without hesitation, raised his gun.

Just then, a female voice sounded out over the intercom system. "WARNING: THE SELF DISTRUCT SYSTEM HAS BEEN ACTIVATED. ALL PERSONEL ARE TO EVACUATE IMMIDATELY! THIRTY MINUTES REMAINING."

The man in black looked at him, and smiled. "Make your move… traitor."

Jack fired his weapon, and suddenly the man in black was directly in his face, and before he could react, Jack went flying back down the stairs behind him. Down in the lab, Hayden sat up on her elbows, moaning from the pain in her back. Her eye focus came back and she saw the man in black lift Brandon up by his throat. Hayden felt around and quickly found her pistol's handle. She raised it up and fired several shots into the man in black.

He winced and Brandon smashed his fist into his face, freeing himself from the man in black's grip. "Kid, move!" She heard Jack scream. They all heard the clank of a grenade dropping to the ground. Brandon gasped, turned, and dove through the already shattered window as the grenade exploded. Hayden shielded her face from the blast.

The flames extinguished quickly and she was on her feet, dragging Brandon to his. Just feet away, the man in black lay on the ground, charbroiled. Not that THAT seemed to make any difference. It didn't when he'd been shot to no end. Or when he'd been thrown from a helicopter that had been about 3000 feet in the air.

Nope. Hayden was taking no chances. She pushed Brandon toward the door, where Jack was waiting. "Smooth." Was all Hayden had to say about the grenade move. He just nodded, and opened the door, to which they all raced through.

"WARNING: THE SELF DISTRUCT SYSTEM HAS BEEN ACTIVATED. ALL PERSONEL ARE TO EVACUATE IMMIDATELY! TWENTY MINUTES REMAINING."

The three raced back down the corridor and suddenly Jack held up a fist. _Hold here. _Brandon swallowed hard. Hayden spun around with her pistol. She had the feeling of being watched. And hunted. Suddenly the corridor was filled with terrible hisses of undead. A scan of the corridor revealed that they were surrounded on all sides by hoards of them…

"Fuck." Jack hissed. Brandon pumped the shotgun he'd grabbed out of the lab before they'd left. "That we are…" He murmured. Brandon began to fish around his belt. "Ideas, anyone?" Hayden mumbled loudly.

"Sure. Shoot ourselves. It's much faster."

"Then you take a chance of not actually killing yourself. I'm not risking it." He looked down at the grenade in his hand, and then pulled the pin out of it, and tossed it in the direction of the lift. It rolled to the foot of an undead, which looked down at it, confused.

Suddenly the grenade exploded, clearing a nice path down between the undead and the lift. "Go! NOW!"

They all bolted for the lift, with the zombies swarming after them. Hayden and Brandon hit the lift first, and Jack yelled after them. "Hit the button!"

"Not until you're inside!"

"HIT THE FUCKING BUTTON!"

Hayden bit her lip and slammed her palm against the button, and the door to the lift started to close. Jack turned and fired at the undead that rushed after him. "JACK!"

He turned, tucked and rolled forward, and fell flat out on the floor – of the lift. Brandon let out a breath he'd been holding and Hayden let out a sob, as she dropped down next to Jack. She didn't understand why she was so emotional over him. He was a stranger. She'd know him for maybe 15 minutes total. And then it hit her. She refused to see anyone else die. "Hey, Kid. I'm fine…"

He sat up and she slumped against the lift's wall. "We're getting out." He said softly. "I just… I can't do it anymore. I can't see anyone else die."

Brandon sat down next to her and pulled her into his arms. "Hey, listen. No one else is going to die…"

"Why did this happen in the first place?"

As Brandon held Hayden in his arms, he looked over at Jack, looking for answers. But who was he kidding? He was a mere pawn in this game. "I don't have any of the answers you are looking for. But I know that we can't give up. Zera Corporation has to be shut down." Jack said. Hayden looked up, her face stained with tears.

"How big are they?" She asked.

"Try worldwide." Jack said.

"Impossible." Hayden hissed

"Only if you let it be." Brandon said.

The lift shook as it came to a stop above ground. "Come. We have to go…" Brandon helped Hayden to her feet, as Jack secured the area outside the lift. Jack led them to a small shed just feet away from the cabin. He opened it up, and ripped a tarp off of two small motor bikes.

He tossed a key to Brandon, and he got onto one of the bikes and started it up. Suddenly there was a loud moan from the back of the shed. "Go! I'm behind you!" Jack shouted, as he fired at the first undead he saw. But then more began to file out from the dark shadows. "Oh God…"

"Jack! Let's go!" Hayden screamed, as she fired a shot into one of the zombies shuffling toward him. Jack took a step back toward the bike, when suddenly a fist pounded through the side wall of the shed, and suddenly the man in black plowed through using only himself. He stood in the rubble of the wall, and just stared at Jack. Behind him, more zombies hissed and shuffled slowly toward him.

"JACK…."

The man in black took of the pair of dark shades he was wearing and slipped them into his pocket. His eyes were a reddish color, and he just growled at Jack, who turned and threw Hayden the other bike's keys.

"I'll buy you some time."

"NO." She said flatly.

"GO. There's no time…"

"Ja-"

"Take the fight to them, Lockhart! GO!" Jack screamed. Without another word or waiting for a reply from her, he turned, and emptied his rifle into the undead behind him. He bashed the empty weapon into one zombie as there was a rumble under their feet.

"HAY! NOW! We have to go!"

Hayden turned and got onto the second bike and it started up with a loud rev of the engine. Brandon gunned his bike out first and Hayden quickly followed.

Inside the shed, Jack turned to the man in black. "You know, it doesn't have to end this way…" the man said. Jack just snorted. "Sheppard… you know it has to."

The man in black – Sheppard, just shook his head. "You are just too damn soft for your own good, Jack."

"I promise. I won't be with you."

Jack suddenly drew a knife and threw it at Sheppard, who jumped to the side, and suddenly tackled Jack, body slamming him to the ground in one swift move. Suddenly the ground erupted in large bursts of snow, smoke, and flames.

Miles down the road, Hayden stopped her bike, and Brandon followed suit. She got off her bike and watched in horror, as a massive cloud of smoke and snow erupted into the night's sky. "Jack…"

"He did it to save us Hayden."

As she stared into the sky, she slowly nodded. "Yes. He did." She turned to him and pulled him into a hug. "It's up to us now."

THE END.


End file.
